Heart of the Eclipse
by Denian
Summary: EXTREME AU! Genderbending, twincest, religious topics,... Avoid if you are sensitive about any topics. "They made us titans, Harry. Immortal by our fate. If you want to change this..." "Hermione, nobody should be immortal. You know this. I know this. We all do." "Then we need to ascend." "Ascend to what? What's left beyond our power?" "Godhood."
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Any elements of this story which are recognizable as intellectual property of another person, and therefore protected by copyright and similar laws in the country of origin or any other country, prior to the date of publication of said element within this story, is not mine. The rest is. Please assume that this statement is valid for any and all future chapters of this story, too._

_Claimer: While I cannot prove, or even claim, that it is not influenced by diverse works of literature and/or other disciplines, including, but not limited to, music, poetry, movies and any other arts, I specifically claim the exact nature of "Terra Arcana" as my idea, although I do not discount the possibility that similar, maybe even nearly identical, ideas exist elsewhere. Should the name itself exist elsewhere, I hereby apologize for my ignorance._

_Introductory (and only) author's notice: It has begun. Let's pray that I am able to finish this someday. I recommend reading some of my oneshots so you can get some idea of what to expect. Should you have any questions at all, feel free to leave a review or even a personal message. Should you find any mistakes, I would prefer a personal message, since I firmly believe that reviews should be about content and maybe writing style, not about grammar and orthography. Have fun reading!_

* * *

><p><strong>Heart of the Eclipse, Book one: Ascent<strong>

**Chapter 1**

Terra Arcana, Medical Realm (human subsection), Solar eclipse

James Potter glanced out of the window, still holding his wife's hand as he did so. This whole day was strange – and it wasn't because he was about to become a father for the first time. Although, thinking about it, that was a strange feeling, too.

The strangest part of the day, though, was... well, the day itself.

It was an unwritten rule, empirically proven by the previous 1579 full cycles – which meant 3158 eclipses – since Terra Arcana was first created, that no child was ever born on an eclipse day. Never. Not once. In any world with linear time, this might be statistically impossible, but somehow, time itself had always ensured that children on Terra Arcana were born either the day before or after, but never _on_ an eclipse day.

Today, though, two would be born, and both would bear the surname of Potter. Twins. Fraternal twins of different genders, at that, which was so rare, they might as well be the first ones. All but a percent of all twins were identical, and even among the few fraternal twins, more than seventy percent were of the same gender. Magic seemed to dislike the thought of twins being different.

These two seemed to be intent on being born during the actual eclipse itself, too.

James didn't know how to feel. Should he feel proud? Frightened, maybe? Eclipses were important, not only because they were the major events by which magicals were able to measure time. Strong magic was at work during both kinds of eclipse, magic with a mind of its own, and any major spellcasting was prone to erratic behaviour as long as the sun or the moon were even partially obscured. Erratic? By the gods, most of it was pure chaos – benevolent chaos, yes, but still chaos!

"James?"

"Yes, dear?"

He looked down at his wife, the love in his eyes clearly visible to all observers.

"Do you still agree with the names?"

James smiled at her. His Lily, always fretting about minor details when nervous.

"Yes, dear, I still agree. Harry James Potter, to continue the naming traditions of my family, and Flora Potter to continue yours, even into a new world."

Lily blushed. She had only been transported to Terra Arcana shortly before her eleventh birthday. Her family's naming tradition was one of the few things she could remember about them.

"Well, not exactly. My family always used the English name of one specific flower, and some kind of Christian middle name, but... Somehow, I feel that Flora will fit her better."

James nodded. That part of divination might be a shady subject at times, but all magicals knew to pay attention to such feelings, just like they knew to ignore any verbalized prophecies. Nothing good ever came from doing otherwise.

"No middle name, though? I'm not complaining, but it is slightly unusual."

His brown eyes locked onto her green ones, which were now slightly glazed with pain. She spoke only four more words before their conversation was finished for now.

"She won't need one."

For a second, James once more glanced out of the window. The sun was clearly visible, as was the slight sliver of the moon which slowly moved to hide it. He felt it already, the magic of the eclipse tugging at his own, though only slightly. The feeling would grow stronger until the moon was perfectly centred in front of the sun.

He looked back at his wife. He knew it then, knew that his children would be born during this magical event. Born in the heart of the eclipse.

His messy black hair became even more so as he shook his head. Where had those words come from?

* * *

><p><span>Terra Origina, Crawley Hospital, Crawley, England, September 19, 1979<span>

Seeing a doctor in a hospital is not, in itself, a rare event. Neither is seeing two of them, even if they are dentists. These two, though, were not in the hospital for anything related to their work – they were there for the birth of their daughter. Their names were Daniel and Emma Granger.

The detail which made this a truly rare event is the fact that the newly born Hermione Jane Granger was magical. This fact was not known to anybody in attendance, but that is not surprising. There was, after all, no magical above age eleven on Terra Origina, much less in Britain, and even among the children the number of magicals could be counted on two hands with fingers to spare.

The detail which made this event absolutely unique is that Hermione was born just before the moon fully obscured the sun in a solar eclipse, which should be impossible, since the new moon would be two days later.

* * *

><p><span>Terra Arcana, Medical Realm (human subsection), Solar eclipse<span>

James gently held his newborn children. Harry had been born exactly at the darkest point of the eclipse, his sister following a short while later.

He was worried. Both children were obviously strongly magical. Their magic, though, felt distinctly like that of the eclipse itself: Heavy, intense and slightly chaotic. Both felt slightly different, but harmonious in a way.

Still, while Lily was overjoyed, James couldn't help but feel worried. He knew, somehow, that the birth of these children had changed his destiny. He feared he might not live long enough to experience the normal seven cycles of parenting, much less any longer than that.

James sighed. He would just have to make the most of whatever time he might have.


	2. Chapter 2

**Heart of the Eclipse, Book one: Ascent**

**Chapter 2**

Terra Arcana, Unnamed residential realm

Six years passed, and James and Lily Potter were quite happy with their two children: Harry, who had unruly black hair like his father (although it did seem to have a red gleam in the direct sun), and Flora, with her blood red, mostly straight hair, which fell to the middle of her back by now. Both of them had inherited Lily's emerald eyes.

While their magic still felt distinctly different, their accidental magic was strangely normal, if there was such a thing as "normal" when it came to magic. They levitated toys, summoned cookies and vanished their vegetables. Yes, it happened more often than usual, and yes, the banished spinach had taken several strong cleaning charms to remove from the wall, but all in all, they didn't do anything too unusual.

These two did everything together, but they cared surprisingly little for contact with other children. They weren't exactly shy or withdrawn, but they didn't actively try to play with other children, either. Not that there were many of those around: The vampire couple down the street had a little girl, some of the fairies in the small patch of forest were quite young, and there was a young male water spirit connected to the lake.

The community in which the Potters lived was rather small, but quite mixed. James' three best friends from school lived in the house next to theirs, there was an older human couple, two werewolves just out of school, the vampire family, the water spirit, the aforementioned fairies and a couple of forest nymphs. All of them were friendly, and this realm, while small, was a beautiful place to raise children.

Lily worked for the guild of unspeakables, a very secretive guild mostly dedicated to the development of useful spells, potions and magical artifacts for the general populace. They had once tried to research and codify the laws of magic, but that had quickly proven to be useless. The main benefit of working for this guild was that she could do so from home. Lily was paid for every sold book which contained a spell or potion she had developed.

James, on the other hand, was a hunter. He regularly went out into the wildlands, hunted some creatures – most of which were rather harmless, since he was careful not to become too arrogant – and sold whatever meat or potions ingredients could be sold.

Sirius and Remus, two of James friends, were aurors. They had been two of the best argentors of their year, and had been promoted to full aurors quickly because of that, but they lacked the ambition to try to become master aurors. They preferred leaving the more "annoying" parts of the job (in their own words) to others. Those parts were mostly the surveillance meditation and the daily reports.

Peter, the last member of their group of friends (who called themselves the marauders), often accompanied James into the wildlands. Where James was a hunter, though, Peter was a gatherer. He gathered potion ingredients and food from plants as well as rare plants for the herbology guild.

They were on just such a trip right now, talking while they searched for something worth selling.

"You know, Peter, I've felt uneasy since the twins were born, and even more so these last few moons. Somehow, I think it's a warning."

"I know. We – Sirius, Remus and I – have felt it, too. The other two even more so, they said they felt as if they would not get the opportunity to godfather the twins."

James sighed.

"If the source of the feeling is the same, I won't even get the full seven cycles as a parent. I actually don't think I have much longer than until the next eclipse."

"The solar eclipse? Why?"

"It's their thirteenth eclipse, including their birth. Somehow, I think there will be some powerful magic happening on that day."

Peter nodded, and both of them were silent for a while. Finally, James spoke up again, although it was barely more than a whisper.

"I just wish I could help them beyond that, you know. Even if I don't get to see them grow up, I wish I could do _something_ to help them."

This time, Peter looked hesitant, but James noticed.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Well... there's four of us..."

James shook his head, horrified.

"You... You can't mean _that_!"

They stopped, and Peter looked at his friend.

"James, everybody who tried before always tried for _one_ of them. _Of course_ they failed, they were trying to disrupt the balance! _We_ would be trying to imbue one of the twins with the power of all four, in equal amounts. I believe it could work... and at least, we wouldn't simply die in vain. And even if it doesn't work, _we_ will be the sacrifice, not your child."

James thought about it, visibly uncomfortable with the idea. Then, he reluctantly nodded, just once.

"It's probably the best thing we can try."

* * *

><p><span>Terra Origina, Crawley, England, September 19, 1985<span>

It was Hermione's sixth birthday. Sadly, the Granger family didn't get to celebrate. After Hermione returned from school, they were driving towards Hermione's favourite restaurant when another car crashed into theirs. The driver had been distracted by the unexpected solar eclipse, which was even more unexpected since the last new moon had been the week before.

Minutes later, when the police arrived, they found the distracted driver and the Granger parents dead. In the Grangers' car, a seatbelt was fastened on the back seat where a child's seat was, but a body was nowhere to be found.

Further research did not reveal the reason for that seat to be in the car. All records of Hermione's existence, including all memories her classmates and teachers had of her, had been erased.

* * *

><p><span>Terra Arcana, Unnamed residential realm, Solar eclipse<span>

When Lily came to consciousness, she was confused. Several aurors were around her, as well as several of her neighbours. All of them were looking in the same direction, and all of them seemed to be quite pale. She stood up, her legs still shaking, and looked towards the source of their horror.

In the clearing which formed their end of the street, there was some kind of altar which hadn't been there before. Her son was strapped to that altar, and four men stood around him, chanting and glowing in different colours, one hand each raised towards the sky. Her daughter lay off to the side.

She knew those men. She knew them well.

She tried to run to them, to interrupt them, but she was held back by one of the aurors.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Potter, but that's elemental magic they're accumulating. They were already glowing when we arrived. If _anything_, even a nullification field, interrupts them now, this whole realm is going to blow up. There's nothing we can do."

Lily had tears running down her face now.

"But why? Trying to harness that much elemental magic... it's suicide! One of the more common forms even. Why... why would they do that?"

"We don't know. We know that they are synchronizing their magic, keeping the amount of each elemental magic exactly even while gathering more and more of it. They have actually surpassed the level needed to induce the ascent to a titan, but nobody would be stupid enough to try to become one for an element."

"I know. Elemental magic is too pure, in such concentrations... They'll die. They're dead already. But what are they doing with Harry?"

Just as she asked that question, all four of the marauders lowered their raised hands, pointing them directly at the altar beneath Harry. They began pushing all the gathered magic _into_ the altar. It took several minutes, and as they finished, they collapsed from the effort. They died within a minute, their bodies burned out from channelling the elements themselves.

Above Harry, though, the moon eclipsed the sun. The magic of the eclipse awakened his own, and him with it. Nobody noticed his sister, to the side, waking up, too, and watching fearfully. Nobody noticed a young girl with bushy brown hair suddenly appear to the other side, confused by her sudden relocation.

The magic of the eclipse touched upon the highly concentrated elemental magic and began absorbing it.

"No! They didn't. Please, somebody, tell me the didn't -"

"They did."

It was all the auror, who was still holding Lily back, could say.

"If they weren't already dead, I'd kill those four myself! Oh Harry, please survive this..."

As everybody watched, Harry's body slowly absorbed all the elemental magic, but it seemed to mix together and become mutated by the eclipse. Instead of glowing in the typical elemental colours – green and brown for earth, red, orange and yellow for fire, blue and green for water and light blue and white for wind – he started emitting waves of golden and silver light.

The two girls, meanwhile, had approached the boy everybody's attention was focussed on. It was too late when they were noticed. Flora, concerned for her brother, and Hermione, who felt some sort of connection to those two, rushed towards him and touched him at the same time. The light spread from Harry to both of them – mostly golden for Hermione and mostly silver for Flora.

All three of the children lost consciousness once more as the glow of potent magic surrounding their bodies faded.


	3. Chapter 3

**Heart of the Eclipse, Book one: Ascent**

**Chapter 3**

Terra Arcana, Unnamed residential realm

Although it was only a night before the three children woke up again, that one night was sufficient to change the lives of the Potter family forever.

James Potter and his friends were buried in an unnamed grave, disgraced by their final deed. Despite two of them coming from major families, their funeral was simple, and the longest speech given was Lily's recital of the dissociation rite, which was used whenever people wanted to publicly distance themselves from someone they felt had done wrong:

"May water wash away your names and fire burn them to fine ashes, to be carried far away by wind and buried in deep earth."

Part of the rite was giving up any connection one shared with the disgraced person, which, in Lily's case, meant giving up the Potter name. She retook her maiden name and allowed her children to do the same. Hermione also took the last name of Evans, preferring to do this instead of being reminded of the car crash and her parents' death whenever somebody spoke her last name.

Following the funeral, the children were very quiet and withdrawn. They often spent hours just sitting somewhere and cuddling, shying away from anybody else. Lily could approach them and even touch them for a while, but they did not draw any comfort from her. Their amplified and shared magic seemed to sing a soothing song when all three were somehow touching, but it seemed to dislike anybody else touching them.

While Hermione and Flora slowly recovered, Harry, who had been more directly affected by the event, had stopped speaking altogether. He was the most withdrawn, shying away from all adult men. Being surrounded by four men and strapped to a stone altar had traumatized him, especially after they used some kind of unknown, but obviously powerful and dangerous magic on him.

Several very long moons passed before the next lunar eclipse approached, some of them lasting nearly a hundred days instead of the average twenty eight. During this time, Harry's hair lightened from black to the same red as that of his sister. He started speaking again, but only when he was alone with "his sisters", and only barely above a whisper. Both girls became quite protective of "their" brother.

Lily, meanwhile, used the stretched time to teach Hermione as much about life on Terra Arcana as she could, which Harry and Flora, being born and raised there, already knew.

"So, basically, parents only raise their children until their fifteenth eclipse?"

"Traditionally, yes. The three of you don't have godparents, though, and for those who were born on Terra Origina, the godparenting is done by the family which takes you in when you arrive here. Godparenting is the time from your fifteenth to your twenty-second eclipse, which we find out with a spell for those like you and me. During that time, children live with their godparents, usually separated from their parents, so they learn not to depend on their parents. In that time, the godparents are also supposed to teach the children everything they are supposed to know when they enter school. I will do that for all three of you, of course."

"So, since a cycle of two eclipses roughly equals a year on Terra Origina, on average at least, that means this begins sometime at age seven to seven-and-a-half, and ends at ten-and-a-half to eleven years old? And magical school begins on that day or, if it is a lunar eclipse, on the following solar eclipse?"

"Exactly. There are several school realms, but most of them specialize in something – like Durmstrang, which emphasizes combat relevant magic, or Beauxbatons, which leans more towards art and enchantments. For a balanced education in all areas, Hogwarts Realm of Magical Education is the best choice."

Hermione nodded, signalling that she understood. They ended their little lesson at that point, because Harry had come in and gently tugged Hermione towards the living room. Flora stood behind him.

"It's been nearly two hours without you, Hermione. He's growing restless again."

Lily sighed. Harry was never alone, except for a few minutes in the bathroom. Both girls being absent nearly always made him panic and do some kind of accidental magic, but he could tolerate one of them leaving for a while. Part of it was because he had seen them and felt their presence before falling unconscious that night, but a far greater part seemed to be the magic they shared. There was some kind of bond between all three of them, but Harry was the centrepiece.

The children went outside, going to a sandy bay surrounded by thick trees close to the house, which was unofficially theirs. Even the few water spirits knew not to go there, since they felt the strange magic of the "siblings" when they were close to them in the water.

Once the passed the tree line and stepped onto the sand, all three just dropped their clothes and ran towards the lake, foregoing swimwear and just enjoying the clear and warm water. They weren't the least bit shy around each other – Harry's panic when not around them meant that one or both girls always took showers or baths with him, anyway. All of them had washed each other often enough by now to not be embarrassed by their nudity.

After a few hours of swimming, splashing each other and building sandcastles, they spread the blanket they had brought and lay down, cuddling for a while. They had done this several times already, quite often actually, but this time, for the first time since that night, Harry actually smiled at them.

Their magic would always isolate them from the rest of the world. The more it kept others away, though, the more it seemed to draw them together. He would always have these two at his side.

* * *

><p>The lunar eclipse had come and passed, and the solar eclipse was approaching. Hermione knew as much as Harry and Flora by now, and all three of them had become so good at reading and writing, Lily had started teaching them the basics of rune drawing.<p>

Harry had started smiling more, but he still stayed in the background when others were around, preferring to leave the room when there were men around. He was able to stay calm when the girls left him, although he still disliked it.

This led to Lily sitting them down in the living room one day.

"This talk would normally come near the end of your godparenting, and we will have a more detailed conversation then. I'm not doing this now because I suspect anything, or because I want you to stop being so close – I'm telling you so you know what others might start suspecting in a few years, and so you know what some of them will be talking about."

That was the start of a rather generic (due to the age of the children) talk about the differences between boys and girls, procreation and sexuality.

"Again, I'm not telling you this to embarrass you or keep you apart. If you prefer staying together, do so – I think it's good for all three of you. I just want you to be prepared when others learn that you sleep, shower and bath together and start suspecting that you might be doing more than that."

Still, all three kept blushing for the next few days – most of it caused by the fact that the talk wouldn't keep them from going on as before, but made them notice the differences she had talked about more than before. More than anything else, washing each other in the shower led to intense blushes.

In the end, though, it ended up making them feel even closer. Surprisingly, it was Harry who figured it out first and told the girls one evening several days later, when they lay in bed together.

"I wasn't embarrassed by my body, or I would have tried to hide it. I trust you, though. Once I figured that out, and that you obviously trust me enough to see, and even touch, yours, too, I just couldn't find a reason to be embarrassed any longer. Thank you for trusting me like that, though."

After that, the blushes were replaced by appreciative smiles.


	4. Chapter 4

**Heart of the Eclipse, Book one: Ascent**

**Chapter 4**

Terra Arcana, Evans family realm

Four sets of eyes were looking around at the landscape. They stood at the edge of a large clearing in a dense forest. The irregular, gently curved piece of plain grassland was roughly bisected by a small river.

"This will be our home until you leave for Hogwarts, children. Maybe even longer than that."

Harry nodded, followed by the girls. It was tradition, after all – the godparenting was to take place in an isolated realm. Children entered such a realm with only their godparents and some standard issue wizarding tents – in this case, one for Lily and one for the children. The godparents then taught the children everything they needed to survive.

Shaping this bare piece of land into a home would be the children's responsibility. They would get enough food to survive, the river contained clean water to drink and the tents contained utilitarian bedrooms ans bathrooms. For comfort or even luxury, though, they would have to work – the godparents were only there as teachers, they were not allowed to do the work for the children.

"Right. Let's move a bit closer towards the river to set up our tents – water is important, and we don't want to have to walk too far for it. Not too close, though."

All four started to walk, and Lily kept talking.

"Most people start with small spells, because children are generally not used to conducting any amounts of magic. They need to get used to the feeling, and they need to slowly learn to guide that magic with their intent. The three of you will probably have the opposite problem: Magic flows through your bodies in such great amounts, you already need to keep it calm using your minds. What you will probably have trouble with is fine control, and nothing else."

"So we will have to start with larger spells?"

"No, Hermione. You will learn the same spells as other children your age, and you will need longer to do so. Your magic is strong, and it helps with keeping your bodies in shape. What we will need to train is mostly your minds and souls. Both need to be strong enough to keep your magic under control."

They stopped and set up their tents, about fifty meters from both the river and the forest. When they were done, they went and sat at the river's edge.

"Let me demonstrate why you will need control, and why I will not help you find a focus until you have learned enough. One of the basic arts of magic is invocation, which uses your intent as a guide and a word as a trigger."

She held out her hand, palm up, so all three children could see it.

"For example, I can focus my intent on a small, cool flame, imagine it in detail, visualize it as it dances in my hand. With a clear picture in mind, intending to create such a flame, I trigger my magic with an associated word – _any_ associated word. **Flame**, for example."

As she had said the word flame, the small flame she had described had suddenly appeared in her hand.

"If I were to lose control, though..."

She threw the handful of flame towards the river. It grew into an actual fireball, the heat noticeable even when the fire was already several meters away.

"There are other arts, some more precise, some easier to control, some quicker to use. Hogwarts teaches all of them. In the next four cycles, though, you will only use one form from me. Most children learn spellcraft, which uses a specific word, a focus and not really all that much intent in order to achieve a predefined effect. The three of you, though, will learn magery – the art of using nothing but your will to guide your magic."

"The most basic magic, and the one we will begin with, is to create light. This is probably the first magic ever done, and it is always the first magic taught. So close your eyes, take a deep breath, and focus on all your memories of light. Everything you associate with light, every memory, every feeling... Try to build your own concept of what light _is_, what it means to you, how it makes you feel. The more you understand what you try to do, and the more you want to do it, the easier it will be."

It took a while, but slowly, the three started glowing. Hermione began glowing golden, Flora silver, and Harry was fluctuating between the two. After a while, Lily had to look away because the light got too bright.

"That's enough, children! Carefully open your eyes and you will see why you need to learn better control."

The children did as asked and were nearly blinded by the amount of light each of them emitted.

"Most children use a focus, meaning they start by emitting light from a small area, like the tip of a wand, a stone or even a playing card. Even then, it's a comfortable, soft light. You, though, did this as an aura, making your whole body glow, which is a much greater surface. Using only a negligible part of your real power, you still glow bright enough to get sunburned."

Flora and Harry nodded, but Hermione had a question.

"Why was Harry's light composed of our colours? And what do the colours mean, anyway?"

Lily sighed.

"The colours... well, when magicals use enough power to create light, the colour of the light is somehow connected to their magic. Some people, for example, use small amounts of elemental magic regularly enough, the elemental magic starts to... well, it starts to stain the magic with the element's colours. You, though... It isn't Harry's magic which is composed of your magics, Hermione. It is your magic which is a part of Harry's magic."

This confused Flora.

"What's the difference, mum? Doesn't it mean the same?"

"No, Flora. It's because of that ritual. It's Harry who was initially charged with that magic, and since you touched him when it was still unstable, it now flows between the three of you. But it flows from Harry to the two of you, not the other way around... And the direction of that connection will probably matter."

Harry looked at her. Carefully, already fearing the answer, Harry spoke to his mother for the first time since that night, surprising all three females around him. It was just a single word.

"Why?"

Lily looked at him sadly.

"I don't know, son. I only know that you are their source of power, while they are your focus... or at least _a_ focus for your magic. It would explain why you lose control if neither of the girls is around, while neither of them ever did magic when not around you. Well, not after..."

She sighed.

"They might never be able to use magic without you... and you might never be able to control yours without them."

By unspoken agreement, lessons were over for that day. Flora and Hermione led Harry to their shared tent, where they held him even tighter than usual as all three of them tried to fall asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Heart of the Eclipse, Book one: Ascent**

**Chapter 5**

Terra Arcana, Evans family realm

It took several days, but slowly, all three were gaining some control over the light spell. Hermione preferred creating a floating sphere of light, whereas Flora used her hand as a flashlight. Harry just made some object in the vicinity glow. It couldn't yet be called mastery, but after checking that each child could create all of these types of light, Lily decided to teach them something new.

"Now, please remember, light was easy. The next concept is movement, which is much more complex. There are countless ways to make something move, and if you visualize a different way, your magic will probably behave differently, as well. For example, the most common movement spell for beginners is _Wingardium Leviosa_, which is good at making a single object float. It's not a good spell if you need to position something exactly, and absolutely useless for moving anything but a solid object. It is based on the visualization of attaching a rope slightly above the centre of gravity of the object and pulling up."

She demonstrated the spell on a stone, which floated. Then, she cast it at the river. Nothing happened.

"Another similar spell is _Levifors_, which basically creates a plate of magic below the object and lifts that."

Another demonstration. The stone did mostly the same as before, but it fell down when Lily started moving it faster. When she cast the spell at the river, some water was pulled up, but it seemed to run over the edge of a flat circular disc and fall down to the river again.

"It's useful if you want to levitate multiple objects, and with enough practice you can shape the magic differently and transport fluids, too."

After placing a stone in front of each child, Lily continued.

"You will use the same method as with the light. Imagine some way of lifting the stone, using as much detail as possible. Try using as many different ways as possible – the more creative you become, the better you will be at using magic."

The girls immediately started to concentrate, and Harry followed. For a moment, he seemed to frown, as if reluctant to do this, but then he began to think of ways of lifting the stone, too. Lily, seeing that they would probably be at this for a while, left to fetch their lunch.

Harry, though, opened his eyes and took the stone. Then he dropped it. He repeated this several times, and the girls, distracted by the soft sound of the falling stone, stopped concentrating and watched him.

Suddenly, Harry's expression became determined. He lifted the stone again, held it there, and then there was a sudden spike of magic. He let go. The stone didn't drop.

"What... How... What did you do?"

Harry looked at the girls.

"The stone didn't _want_ to be there. Now it does."

"But... what about gravity?"

Now, he looked at Hermione defiantly.

"If I tell my magic to give me light, it gives me light. If I tell my magic to lift a stone, it lifts a stone. And if I tell my magic to tell the stone that _there is no gravity_, then the stone had better behave."

After saying this, though, his expression slipped into an embarassed smile.

"Which probably isn't the best way to do this, because I'd have to tell every object exactly how I want it to behave. But if I want a stone to be in the air, I don't want to keep lifting it."

The girls seemed to contemplate this and, after some thinking, agree. None of them noticed Lily, who had returned and heard everything.

She stood slightly behind Harry, her hand at her mouth to help hold in a gasp, a tear rolling down her cheek. This went beyond simple magic. This wasn't bending reality to your will, this was reshaping truth. This was impossible – even for magicals.

What had those four idiots done?

* * *

><p>Two moons with about fifty days each passed, and the children got more and more creative with their levitation. They even combined methods. For example, they had created chains of sand by tying one grain to another with little strings of magic. By attaching those to a stone they levitated and spun quickly, they had formed saws they used to cut down some trees for firewood. They practised this method until they could form the whole saw in a second.<p>

Water was levitated by "sucking" it through imaginary tubes. Hermione got the idea to imagine a kind of ballon which pushed the water into the tubes instead, which increased the pressure with which the water came out at the other end.

Some twigs, leaves and long grass were fixed a few meters above the ground using Harry's method. This worked as a roof above their fireplace, sheltering them from rain. It was a temporary solution, as even the children knew that this wasn't a stable construction. Still, it managed to keep them dry in the light rain that fell for a few days.

Once more, Lily decided to teach them the next step.

"You know how to levitate things, you can cut wood using this and even make water flow to different places. I think that's enough to build a small wooden house. For the next few moons, you will spend roughly half of our days building said house, step by step. The other half will be spent increasing your control over your magic."

They started with the control part. Since they knew several methods to levitate something, she told them to begin focusing on the levitated objects and the path they should follow more than the method.

"Whenever you learn something new, always follow the same steps. First, think of several methods to accomplish your goal. Practice until those are second nature. Then, practice fine control over the effects until casting for this effect becomes an instinct, something you don't really need to concentrate for. You will practice the light spell until you can use it to detect light instead of creating it, allowing you to see with your magic. You will also practice levitation and other movement effects until you can use those concepts to feel the world around you."

Hermione seemed hesitant.

"Is something like this even possible?"

Lily nodded at her.

"Yes, it is. Most people don't bother training this far, but as a member of the guild of unspeakables, I find these magical senses to be quite valuable. If you can feel every object in a room, you can move it instantly – I used this to brew several potions at the same time. I admit, though, that I'm not really good at seeing with my magic. I started too late and couldn't get used to the effect anymore. I only see rough shapes, and only if I concentrate."

She then told them how to focus on the same concepts as before and pay attention to what their magic told them instead of forcing it to do something. This involved a lot of meditation, which she taught them at the same time. She even started teaching them some basic martial arts.

"Many of these forms were originally not meant for fighting – they were used to teach a way of life, which often involved meditation even while walking around and with opened eyes. That's what we are aiming for, although being able to fight will be a nice side effect."

After a few days spent on control training, they began with their house. Lily taught the children several ways of shaping wood so it fit together and didn't move against other parts. She taught them how high a room should be, at what height and how big a window should roughly be, how high a door should be, even some basic runes for water conjuration and waste banishing.

"You cannot drink that water, though – such conjurations are only temporary. You will still have to get water for cooking or drinking from the river."

And so, in the course of several hundred days, three children learned everything that went into the magical construction of a wooden house – something they immediately got to apply. They were actually done before the lunar eclipse.

"Congratulations, children – most of your peers will only _begin_ with the construction of their houses within the next two moons, but you are already done. You only learned two concepts instead of about twenty spells, but you mastered them well enough to replace all of those spells – and a few dozen more - in most situations. Well done!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Heart of the Eclipse, Book one: Ascent**

**Chapter 6**

Terra Arcana, Evans family realm

Moon after moon passed by, and Harry, Flora and Hermione concentrated their efforts on the development of their magical senses. They had fully mastered their magical control over the concepts of light and movement, both active and passive. They did not learn how to actively control any new concepts, though, although they knew the theory. Instead, they focussed on their passive control, or, as Lily had called it, _sensing_ that concept.

They spent hours meditating on each new concept, comparing it to every concept they already knew, noting similarities, differences and common tendencies. This was quite difficult, since comparing moisture to movement, for example, was nearly impossible. They had almost nothing to do with each other, but the children still needed to teach their magic how one differed from the other, so they could sense both better.

They also needed to consider the whole concept, not just parts of it. For light, there were colour and brightness to consider, as well as darkness – which is the absence of light, not a separate concept. Learning about light meant learning about darkness, the same with warmth and coldness, moisture and dryness, life and death...

"In the end, every concept is named after one part of a spectrum, and when learning about that end, you must also learn about the other. Magic always strives to keep a balance, so if you make one place brighter, you take that potential for light away from the world, and somewhere else, the world will be a bit darker. That's why we don't simply solve all our problems with magic alone: Even when we take something from the infinite wildlands, we exchange the energy we use to find something for that which we take."

Lily looked around at the landscape, at the house the children had built, the bridge they had built over the river, the stone path they had built along one side of the river towards the beach, which was a few miles downstream. She made the children do the same.

"Even this realm doesn't come free of charge: the instance we entered it, we made a promise to magic itself, pledging to nourish the potential of this bare realm and make it grow in some way. So whenever you do magic, remember: all magic is a trade, and whether or not you notice it, the price _will_ be paid."

Harry nodded.

"So that's why we gather wood for fire and why we search the forest for food, or plant and harvest it in the garden. There's always enough to be found, but we have to look for it – not because magic wants to hide it from us, but because gathering the food is our part of the bargain."

He had started talking in front of his mother again shortly after they had moved to this new realm, mostly because he felt less insecure now that there were no outsiders to be met.

"Exactly. It might not be a high price for us to pay, but that's how trade works: we give something we need less than the other party to receive something we need more than the other party, but in the end, they have the same value in the eyes of magic. And since magic itself is the other party in this case, it decides the price."

This seemed to bother Flora for some reason.

"Why does it set such a low price for food, then?"

"Because it's nothing more than basic food, and magic actually wants us to survive. More than that, it wants us to become better at everything, since magic itself learns from our creativity and experience, too. Food, as long as it isn't more than we need, is more or less free."

Flora frowned, but nodded. This explained why they found plenty of fruit and vegetables when walking through the forest, but only encountered animals they could hunt every few days. Hermione, though, had another question.

"Doesn't that mean that we should actually feel less valuable things as we get better at using magic to sense our environment? The better we get at that, the less energy we need to spend to look for something – shouldn't the food become harder to find as time goes on?"

Lily laughed at that.

"Not really, Hermione. You spend hours upon hours trying to sharpen your magical senses. Learning and training could be called long-term investments. You might only need to do so once, but by becoming better at something, you also become more valuable to society as a whole and to magic itself. It might sound like cheating, but it's actually part of the rules of our world."

All three children nodded and went back to their meditation. Currently, they were trying to sense magic itself. They could already feel the path a spell took, but they were told to get good enough to feel the magical properties of a potions ingredient or recognize the concepts within a spell. This was tricky, since the easiest way to sense magic was by its interaction with other concepts. It was, therefore, difficult to isolate and contemplate more directly. They would need days to get this right, and even more days to actually master it.

Meanwhile, Lily also taught them other things so they didn't just meditate the whole day. After their wooded house had been completed, the children learned the finer details of more complicated architecture, moving on to stone buildings after another moon had passed. They had also learned how to weave different kinds of fabrics, for clothes as well as curtains and carpets.

"This is actually one of the more useful skills. While we don't need many clothes once we have a wardrobe bracelet, since it automatically cleans and repairs the clothes we wear, some people are incredibly vain and pay quite a bit of money for good clothes. Some of the more magical furs and silks are also a great basis for enchanted clothes, and adventurers often buy several sets of those for different situations, since one article of clothing can only hold a finite amount of enchantments before it dissolves from too much magic."

For metalwork, on the other hand, they were told to take the course at Hogwarts. Lily had only studied enough to shape basic items like cutlery, nothing more durable than that.

"Crafts are the second best way to earn money, only surpassed by really good adventurers, and only because adventurers gather the needed materials for craftsmen and -women. The more crafts you learn, the less you will depend on others. You will have to learn most of them at school, though, since I always leaned more towards research."

All in all, by the time their twentieth eclipse came, the three Evans children were well prepared for school, so they had a full cycle left to mostly relax, with some minor exceptions.

* * *

><p>"Today, we will try to find your focus. Remember, while a focus can be useful in some situations – mostly when fighting – it isn't strictly necessary. If you don't find one, Hogwarts will supply you with a wand, which is an artificial focus, when you learn spellcraft; those are frowned upon in duels, though."<p>

The children knew this, so they nodded at Lily to continue.

"A true focus is the physical manifestation of an echo of your soul and magic, which makes it the perfect conductor for your magic when casting a spell. You call it by concentrating on yourself and the magic within you, then calling it into reality. It's difficult to explain, you have to experience it to understand. I'll demonstrate."

Lily closed her eyes, and the children could actually feel her magic becoming more focused. Then, she snapped her eyes open at the same time as she held her right hand out to her side. A beautifully crafted rapier appeared in her hand, a delicate ornamental metal cage protecting her hand, which gripped the deep red hilt. The blade was slim and decorated with fine lines, forming the image of a flower – a lily.

"This is my focus, the Blood Lily. She started out as a regular rapier, not very special at all, and got closer to this form the more I learned and the better I became at duelling. She reflects my preferred duelling style, which incorporates precise cutting and piercing sorcels – precision and speed rather than power."

She let her hand fall back to her side, the beautiful blade disappearing during the motion. Then, she told the children to try.

After two hours, Flora was the first to complete the exercise. From her feet upwards, as if watching a tree grow very quickly, she was covered in rough wooden armour. It actually seemed to leak magic. She asked her mother if it was supposed to do so.

"Yes, actually. As I said, a focus is usually used for specific tasks more often than for others. While you can use that armour to focus all types of magic, its shape suggests that it will lean towards defensive and supportive magic in battle. It leaks magic because it isn't developed yet – it will become more refined the more you use it, and the more it learns, the less magic it will leak."

As she finished speaking, Hermione managed to call her focus, too.

"Oh, that's rare – a body focus. Since your hand keeps changing form, we have to assume that you can shape at least parts of your body into parts of different animals – you might even be able to change shape completely. The animal parts will actually carry your magic, like cutting curses in claws and similar things. You seem more suited towards self enhancement and offensive magic, which balances out Flora's more defensive focus."

Suddenly, reality felt more _intense_, but more fragile at the same time. Hermione's newly grown fur gained a stylized golden sun on the back of her right hand, and Flora's armour showed a stylized silver moon on the back of her left hand.

Harry, though, suddenly wore a black cape made of rough wool. Embroidered on the back was a strange symbol: a set of scales, made from green thread, with the left tray replaced by a stylized golden sun and the right tray replaced by a stylized silver moon, held in a perfect balance.

"So, that question is answered, as well: You _do_ have your own focus, Harry, but when you call it, Flora and Hermione are influenced, too. I can't tell you what your focus will be good at, though. Clothes are unpredictable. Gloves, for example, have often been a focus – they leaned towards stealth, battle magic, crafting or even healing. I can't remember any capes, though. Girls, can you release your focus while Harry keeps his?"

The girls tried, but they couldn't do it.

"I thought so. Harry's magic flows so strongly when he calls upon his focus, it calls yours out, too. Be careful, your own magic is probably amplified right now. Well, let's end this here – you know how to call upon your focus, but your training with them will be done at school."

* * *

><p>"Girls?"<p>

"Yes, Harry?"

The children were lying in their bed, which they still shared.

"Would you mind if I decided to become a girl, too?

Lily had just given them their second, more elaborate talk today, since they would soon leave for school, and this time, they didn't even react all that much. Between the three of them, nudity was quite normal, since they never wore clothes in their bedroom and bathroom. They only dressed when they left those room and went somewhere where Lily could see them.

The talk had made Harry think, though. He hadn't seen anybody except these two girls and his mother in several cycles, but he still disliked the thought of males. It might not be rational, but it was part of his coping mechanism: Those who had hurt him were male, those who had helped him were female. It was simple, it wasn't logical, but it gave him a sense of security at least among girls.

His "sisters" looked at him.

"Harry, we'll get _those_ urges one day. For me, being washed by you in the shower already starts to feel better every time you do it, and I think Flora feels the same. As far as we know, nobody else will ever be able to touch us like that – the magic flowing through our bodies would fry them."

Harry frowned.

"So you want me to stay a boy. I understand... although it still makes me uncomfortable."

Hermione smiled at him.

"Not completely, no. If you want, you can change into a girl, just keep the parts we'll need in a few years somehow. I'll even do the same, so we can both experience both sides when the time comes."

Flora nodded.

"Me too, Harry. We're in this together, and if we have to be outsiders anyway, we may as well have different bodies, too."

"So we'll all change into some kind of half boy, half girl?"

Flora giggled.

"More like full girl with additional boy parts thrown in somehow. Hey, we could even be triplets – that wouldn't make this any weirder at this point, would it?"

Harry smiled.

"I can live with that. Hey, I can actually imagine it: Long, untameable, blood red hair..."

Hermione continued for him.

"Those wonderful emerald green eyes both of you have..."

They spent another hour talking about every detail of the body they would all have, incorporating details of both Hermione's and Flora's original bodies. Harry deliberately didn't include his own body beyond the necessary parts.

They fell asleep with their magic running through them, and when they woke up the next morning, they didn't react to their changes with anything beyond an excited smile.

Lily was in for a shock, though, when three identical children sat down at the breakfast table.


	7. Chapter 7

**Heart of the Eclipse, Book one: Ascent**

**Chapter 7**

Terra Arcana, Evans family realm

Despite the initial shock, it didn't take long for Lily to get used to the "triplets". This was helped by the fact that Harry – who had decided to keep her name and just let people assume it was actually Harriet or something along those lines – had grown more confident after the change. Lily also had to admit that the three of them looked cute, bordering on beautiful: their curly hair, fluctuating between blood red and ruby red depending on the light, framed the face her daughter had originally had, including the emerald green eyes the twins had inherited from her.

All three were quite active, too. They climbed trees in the forest, ran around the clearing itself and swam at the beach a few hundred metres down the river for several hours a day. Part of this was to compensate for the hours of meditation their studies required, but mostly, they just enjoyed it. Their active lifestyle showed, too. They weren't overly muscular for their age, but their slim, agile bodies clearly showed that they weren't lazy at all. Lily regularly complimented them for this choice.

"After all, magic is shaped by your body, mind and soul in conjunction. The more you strengthen all three, the more magic you can safely use without becoming exhausted."

This had, of course, led to the question of how to strengthen their souls. Training the mind and body were kind of obvious, but the soul? Lily, though, had simply smiled at them.

"This should actually be easier for you than for your peers. The soul grows stronger by enjoying positive emotions and deep connections. Enjoying nature, cuddling, playing or listening to music, art... basically, everything that is important to you and feels good keeps your soul strong. On the other hand, negative emotions can weaken your soul and, in extreme cases, even shatter it. A shattered soul slowly loses its magic and invariably loses itself in the wildlands – a fate most people shudder to even contemplate."

"So... simply by cuddling, we're doing something good for our souls?"

Lily nodded.

"If you want to get the best effects, though, try to constantly stay in a state of light meditation during your day. Nothing deep, just kind of consciously experiencing everything and, more than everything, consciously enjoying everything positive. Basically, your soul grows from experience, and the more intense and positive that experience is, the better it grows. Not quicker, but better."

* * *

><p><span>Terra Arcana, Market Realm<span>

Just a moon before the children would leave for Hogwarts, Lily took them to the market realm for the first time. It was time for their school shopping, as well as the last part of their godparenting: They were to be introduced to the trade system.

"We do have a currency, yes – and please, don't ask me who came up with the dumb idea to use prime numbers for the exchange between the three denominations. Some person of questionable intelligence probably found it amusing to constantly test our maths skills. What you need to remember, though, is that money does not have a fixed value. Most trade is, therefore, a direct exchange of goods, with money as a supplementary system."

All three children nodded – they had already learned that much from Lily's lessons.

"Now, to prevent any disputes, all wares are secured by tying them to certain contracts. They physically cannot leave a shop until a contract is signed, which defines which goods were exchanged in which quantities. You should _read_ those contracts, without exception – some of them contain elaborate traps. Do you, for example, know of the Viking Clan?"

Harry shook her head, immediately followed by the other two.

"That clan was started by the Weasley family some generations ago. The family head back then stupidly signed a contract without reading it first, selling _any house the Weasley family might ever own._ Since then, they live in beautifully crafted, flying ships. The rest of that clan is composed of smaller families which simply liked the idea of living on a ship – many of these families leave the clan after two or three generations, though."

The children paled slightly when they heard this. The mere idea of something this big happening because somebody wasn't careful when signing a contract... it was horrible enough to ensure that they would _always_ pay attention when signing anything.

"Now, let's begin your school shopping. First, we should go to Madame Malkins' shop – she specializes in unenchanted clothing and weak clothing enchantments for general purposes. Nothing really special, but traditionally, people buy their first set of school uniforms there."

Hermione was confused.

"Didn't we already make those?"

"I had you make several sets each, yes, and I had you keep the two best sets each of you created at home. The rest, though, we will actually trade in at Madame Malkins' – Her shop is one of those where you can sell any clothes you make. The fifteen sets of uniforms each of you can trade in should be more than enough to get you each a wardrobe bracelet."

Wardrobe bracelets were one of the more interesting inventions of Terra Arcana. Among their base functions was the storage of clothes and cleaning those clothes when they were stored in the bracelet. After several generations of improvements, though, the bracelets had become much more complex than that.

Basically, they let the wearer define sets of clothes which were to be worn together, and then define people, groups, areas, events and much more complex conditions for those sets. Whenever such a condition was met, the appropriate clothes were chosen and magically swapped onto the wearer's body.

The real complexity, though, lay within the fact that the bracelets enforced something called _divergent perception_. Basically, everybody who sees the wearer of the bracelet sees (and, if it comes to that, feels) them wearing the most appropriate clothes depending on the viewer.

For example, somebody could be wearing their bathrobe, and if their employer suddenly came to visit, he would only see them in their working clothes or suit. At the same time, should such a meeting happen in the wildlands, any potential enemy would see _both_ of them in duelling clothes or armour.

The children looked at each other and blushed, causing Lily to sigh in slight exasperation. Divergent perception also made it possible to define a set of people for whom you wanted to wear _less_ than socially acceptable, of course. It was a known possibility, and at least three quarters of those who owned such bracelets probably had defined such a set of people. Luckily, doing so for somebody against their wishes was a fineable offence.

As Lily had predicted, the children had more than enough clothes to trade in for wardrobe bracelets, getting a total of five galleons on top of those from the trade-in.

"You will configure the bracelets in your room at home, not here. Now, there are two things left to buy: your school books and your potions kits. Familiars cannot be bought, and any simple pet will not benefit you in any way, so we will skip those. Everything else is either supplied by Hogwarts or you are supposed to make it yourself."

"What about the dragonhide gloves for herbology?"

"Those are included in the potions kits, along with a dragonhide apron and all knives you will need for potions and herbology."

* * *

><p><span>Terra Arcana, Evans family realm<span>

That evening, the children configured their bracelets. As Lily had guessed, they wouldn't be hiding anything from each other. For everybody else, there was a semi-random selection of generic clothes as well as their school uniform for anything school related.

Before they went to bed, Harry unexpectedly embraced Hermione. She held her close and took a few deep breaths, taking in the smell of her hair and her neck. She finished by kissing her neck where it met her shoulder, the repeated the whole thing with Flora. Both reacted with a small shiver and a smile, then led Harry to their bed and snuggled close to her. All three drifted of to sleep with a smile.

Lily quietly closed the door, which had been slightly ajar.

_'Magic is guided mostly by your body and your mind, but your souls might just need all the strength they can get.'_

She went downstairs and sat in an armchair the children had made together. Then, she opened the book she had borrowed from her guild's library, sadness filling her heart as she sought for answers in the complex theories contained in its pages.

The book was covered in fine black leather, partly hidden by patches of dust so deeply ingrained by time, they could not be cleaned off even with the most precise of magics. Beneath a barely recognizable symbol, depicting a set of scales balancing a golden sun and a silver moon, fading letters declared the title of the book to be _Convergent Elements: On the Role of Elemental Magic in the Great Convocation, which resulted in the Creation of Terra Arcana – A theory by Nicholas Flamel, Apprentice of Alchemy_.


End file.
